Asiva hounded all immigration officers like she was a demoness, shaking them down with violent interrogations until she found one guard with one particular story to tell where he found himself asleep during work hours for some reason and was not sure if someone had slipped by his station during the time he was asleep.

The man had allegedly reported this matter to his superior that day, however, the total number of people entering that day to the total number of documents signed tallied out, so the superior believed that there was no illegal entry to be worried about.

Once Asiva got a whiff of the wrongdoing, her gears turned even faster as she quickly scoured through the records and found the exact one which was wrong where the system contract was stamped by the guards fingerprint instead of an actual sign by a real person.

‘ Max was right, there is a problem with immigration, one of my Paratus clan troops is an imposter ‘ Asiva thought as she praised Max in her heart for thinking about sniffing the imposter out this way.

Not only was the method precise, but it gave her a whole perspective on how to single out the assassin.

With the date of entry and a list of people who entered alongside the man, Asiva now knew precisely how to find him and was sure that with a few more hours of work she would be able to single him out.

Although she was not sure what she would do after singling him out, since she had a burning desire to settle the matter herself when Max had clearly instructed her not to do so, she knew she was not letting the individual responsible spend a single night more in the camp.

Cautiously approaching his father’s men who she was sure were Paratus clan soldiers and loyal to the lord, Asiva presented them with a list of people who immigrated alongside the imposter and asked the loyal soldiers to recognise any man that they personally knew and could trust.

Asiva was not sure if the assassin was alone or the people entering with him were also connected to him in some way, so she took a cautious approach of only talking to the men she could trust.

After establishing who exactly was a trusted soldier and could be vouched for, Asiva talked to them regarding who all immigrated with them and was able to get on the coattails of a man who called himself ‘ Mike ‘ and claimed to be a Garrison Commander in the previous Paratus army.

A little search on Asiva’s part however, confirmed that he was no Garrison Commander and that nobody knew who he was.

The impostor had hence been located.

*************

( A while later )

Asiva reported her findings to Max as Anna and Sebastian were present in the room as well.

The group was completely horrified to hear about the assasination attempt, and emotions were flying high when they heard that the imposter had been singled out.

” I’ll crush him till he becomes minced meat! Don’t underestimate this cowardly dwarf, if provoked he can clobber your bones till they are dust!

Targeting my brother in such a despicable fashion makes the enemy unworthy of calling himself a man ” Sebastian said as he made loud breathing noises through his nostrils

” We should attack him at once, kill him with a thousand arrows inside his body! That should be the minimum punishment he gets ” Anna said adding fuel to fire

” Add another thousand daggers to it and maybe that will be enough ” Asiva chimed in ready to jump into action at Max’s command

However, the man who was on the receiving end of the attack, the de facto leader of the group, Max, was unusually quiet as he listened to the group’s banter.

Max respected their emotions, he himself was the most enraged of them all, but he knew better than these guys that if the assassin was here alone and was capable of sneaking through his immigration gates and spiking his drink, he was definitely not a simple man and needed to be taken more seriously.

” What is the enemy’s tier? ” Max asked Asiva

” He claims to be tier 3 ” Asiva replied as Max shook his head

” He claims to be Mike, but he’s lying. We need to know his exact strength before we move against him.

I have a strong feeling that the man is way stronger than tier3.

He is at least at the peak of tier4 or maybe even in tier5.

My [ scan ] spell can’t detect him at all, he has some excellent concealment device on him as well

Definitely not a simple man ” Max used his brain and reigned in his group against hasty action

Having been close to death yet again made Max realise just how precious his life was and how making stupidly rash decisions was not the best way to preserve it.

As a student of Kremeth, he had never embraced the way of the coward with his full heart uptil today.

However, now he was 100% convinced that the coward’s way was the right way.

” This is ridiculous…. The man tried to kill my brother, I’m angry as hell! I’m now supposed to wait till we find out his strength before attacking? ” Sebastian said, getting carried away by his emotion.

” What is the turtle hermit rule number 6 Sebastian? ” Max asked as he reminded Sebastian about Kremeths teachings.

” Turtle Hermit rule number 6 – An angry coward is a dead coward ” Sebastian recited instantly as he recalled the words of his master.

” Indeed, don’t let the anger get to you. May the cowardice be with you ” Max said

” May the cowardice be with you, amen ” Sebastian replied, calming down completely as he was reminded of his status as a coward.

” Anna, find out his power level and Asiva send out a notice that the day after tomorrow there will be a massive banquet organised by me to appreciate all our soldiers ” Max ordered as he played the long game on this one

He had a plan in mind, and wanted to proceed with caution.

————

/// Bonus chapter for hitting the GT target, good job everyone! ///